Stu News and Photos

It's Wednesday, early morning, and I am thinking, of life and what's been lived. I'm thinking of simple things and easy things and things that made me smile.

I went shopping with my daughter, just she and I, to the local grocer, to pick out her favorite foods and drinks and snacks and such. Since she was extending herself by willingly doing a Ralph's run (ugh), I dressed up. That means I changed from my sweatpants into my good black jeans and out of my Crocs and into my dressy black Sketchers. It made her smile, and that's a sight that rivals sun-showers.

As we rolled on through the isles, I marveled at how far science has come, as measured by the ever-increasing quality of microwave meals. As I hit full-stride as a bachelor, a quarter of my meals were based around microwave foods and food products (what's a food product? Think "Kraft American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product"). Most of those heat-n-eat items were fair, certainly edible, but very few actually tasted good enough to provide joy. This was middle-class survival eating. But today? We have some really toothsome opportunities in the freezer. For example, Stouffer's makes a Philly cheesesteak that's pretty darned good, certainly good enough to doctor up into a lunchtime smile. It takes maybe two minutes to heat, comes out brown and toasty, and I can add mozzarella and freshly-ground black pepper and ketchup and it's better than delivery. I dig that. Good for America, I says.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Lone Ranger considered what had befallen his... Oh, wait, this is a post about... What was I saying?

Smiling, that's right. Joy. Simple pleasures. Tiny moments of divinity and delight. For the moment, this is my life, day to day. There are larger issues, hills yet to climb, but as that is, so is this: I can smile while I climb, and they don't charge extra for it neither. I can smile as I study economic news, I can mutter witty remarks as I troll for coupons, I can play with the cat while I'm pulling clothes out of the hamper.

And I can turn any food moment into a cooking moment. Whether I'm heating a frozen meal in a skillet or reheating pasta in the oven, out come the spices and open goes the fridge door and I'm spinning straw into gold. That is bliss, turning leftovers into something more. Or cooking for someone else, or for the whole family, that is bliss as well. It's like painting. It's messy, it involves tools. It enables my inner craftsman. That is joy.

I wish for you a similar joy. I wish for you a simple smile.

As many of you know, I've been friends with Mike Glazier since 1st grade. You may also know that he's now an audio engineer in New York City, working for "The View" on ABC.

But did you know he's gonna be in front of the camera this week?

That's right, national tv, Mike Glazier, playin' guitar and singin' and smilin'.

Here's the story: The producers at The View had an idea for a segment, a contest, "Behind The Scenes." They held auditions, open to the crew who work backstage. Mike won one of five spots, where they will feature him as they go to break - about 45 seconds of him doing his thing. If enough people vote for him, he wins a bigger segment on the show (not sure what that will look like.)

So go vote for him! - http://theview.abc.go.com/poll/views-backstage-talent-contest-vote-now - Vote Early, Vote Often!

And thanks, by the way.

I'm studying Richard Nixon ('cause everyone needs a hobby), specifically the run-up to The Presidency and his years as President, and I have a question, open to the floor:

During the end of April, 1974, Richard Nixon's staff, under his direction, are piecing together edited transcripts of the Oval Office tapes. During that week, the transcripts are being reviewed by the press secretary's office, as a support mechanism for the editing as well as to better their preparation for the upcoming feeding frenzy, an inevitable event once the transcripts went public.

One of the deputies assigned to review the transcripts was Frank Gannon. Mr. Gannon was concerned that the transcripts had no commontary, and would therefore be devastating to the administration, as they would be misunderstood. He talked over with his boss, Ron Ziegler, and soon sat in White House Counsel St. Clair's office, reviewing each page of commentary, as soon as it came off of St. Clair's typewriter. Eventually Gannon had read enough and the two had a discussion about the upcoming release. In that meeting, they both agreed that, as they saw it, the transcripts showed President Nixon as being innocent of the charges being discussed by the Judiciary Committee.

But what if they saw it differently? I'm not sure if the smoking gun transcript was apparent to either of them, so maybe they were indeed pure of heart and honestly felt that the Nixon could avoid the hangman's noose. But what if they both saw it the other way? What if they went to Haig (the new chief of staff) and convinced him that the transcripts shouldn't be released and that President Nixon should, at all costs, claim executive privilege? What if they immediately burned the transcripts and locked the tapes away, and no one leaked? Would it have made any difference?

On one hand, at best, this approach would have only prevented the first article of impeachment. It's possible that the second article of impeachment, about the abuse of the IRS, would have passed, and certainly the third, the "failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and things," article would have passed. So maybe the point is moot.

But on the other hand, what if the administration was successful in squashing the tape of June 23, 1972, the smoking gun? Would that have been enough to stop the avalanche short of burying President Nixon? Could it have ended in a less damaging manner, in censure? And if so, what then? What would have been the effect on history? Not just American history, but the history of the Presidency, of the power and effect of The Office Of The President Of The United States?

Again, all opinions welcome.